14 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
purpose, while still other houses, as is the case with all at 
present, will be devoted to mixed collections, among which 
some plants are in vegetation, while others are in flower, 
all of the time. 
Though the will of Mr. Shaw expressly indicates as de- 
sirable the extension of the grounds, from time to time, 
and the Board, some years since, placed the preparation of 
suitable extension plans in the hands of Messrs. Olmsted, 
Olmsted & Eliot, the well-known landscape architects, for 
the reasons stated in my last two reports* it has been impos- 
sible to begin actual work on the proposed extension, which 
is intended to include, in addition to smaller special groups, 
a permanent synopsis of the North American flora, repre- 
senting the classification of Bentham and Hooker, and a 
permanent general synopsis of the higher groups of the 
vegetable kingdom, representing the more recent phyloge- 
netic classification of Engler and Prantl.t Pending the 
receipt and adoption of the entire plans of the firm named, 
no considerable planting of trees and shrubbery in even 
_ the older part of the grounds is being undertaken. 
The decorative features for 1898 were maintained on 
about the same lines as in previous years, and although, 
as is inevitable in a botanical institution, many species of 
plants which are of scientific interest but of no decorative 
value and only transient duration have been cultivated, an 
effort has been made to add to the permanent collection 
species of truly decorative value, both tender plants re- 
quiring shelter in the plant-houses and those capable of 
being used in the open air, either for bedding purposes or 
as hardy perennials requiring no special care to secure their 
continuance from year to year. 
The collection of plants, which in 1895{ was estimated at 
* Rept. 8:46. 9313. t Rept. 8:39. 
t Rept. 7: 14. — The inventory showed 3,921 named forms other than 
annuals, of which 1,000 were supposed to be in cultivation in the year 
mentioned. 
ae 
